"Well first of all it's against the law in the state of Minnesota to put your yard waste in the garbage" said Susan Darley-Hill.

You can however, bring them to WLSSD. But you need to know what types of yard waste they accept;

"Anything from grass clippings to leaves, to brush to stuff you've pulled out of your vegetable garden, you've got an apple tree that dropped all of its apples on the ground and you don't want those sitting there, pumpkins, spent jack o lanterns all of those things can come in here and we'll compost them" said Susan.

"Its that time of year again to bring in your yard waste and your used jack–o–lanterns to WLSSD. They can turn that waste into compost in just 6 months."Is there a limit to what can be brought in to the Yard Waste site?

"No there really isn't any limit, especially if its that soft plant tissue like leaves and trims from gardens, and so forth, that material comes in for free" says Susan.

According to Susan Darley–Hill at WLSSD, composting is the most environmentally friendly practice for dealing with yard waste.Much better she says, than dumping it into a landfill. So what's the difference?

"Well any kind of organic matter that ends up going to the landfill actually will be buried in the landfill in an anaerobic environment, and very slowly decompose" said Susan.

In addition, Susan Darley–Hill says that these items will release methane, a harmful greenhouse gas, and also the nutrients in the materials will be lost.The compost generated here at WLSSD is then sold back to you, so don't forget to buy a few bags of it on your way out.In Duluth, for Your Green Life, I'm Meteorologist Jeff Edmondson, The Northlands NewsCenter.

To see the hours of operation for WLSSD's yard waste site, you can visit their website at: